How Long Is a Minecraft Day? Full Day-Night Cycle Times

Guide Java Bedrock

Quick answer: A full Minecraft day-night cycle lasts 20 real minutes (24,000 game ticks): daytime runs 10 minutes, sunset 50 seconds, nighttime 8 minutes 20 seconds, and sunrise 50 seconds. Minecraft time runs 72 times faster than real time, so one Minecraft hour passes in 50 real seconds.

What you need

A bed to skip the night
Optional: a clock to read the time in caves

Step by step

Full cycle: 20 real minutes, 24,000 ticks - Minecraft time runs 72x faster than real time.
Daytime: 10 minutes (ticks 0-12000, 06:00 to 18:00 in game time). The sun is directly overhead at midday, tick 6000.
Sunset/dusk: 50 seconds (ticks 12000-13000). The sky light falls and beds become usable.
Nighttime: 8 minutes 20 seconds (ticks 13000-23000). Sky light drops to 4 and hostile mobs spawn on the surface; the moon is overhead at midnight, tick 18000.
Sunrise/dawn: 50 seconds (ticks 23000-24000). The sky light rises and sunlight starts burning zombies and skeletons.
Useful conversions: 1 Minecraft hour = 50 real seconds; 1 Minecraft week = 2 hours 20 minutes; a full 8-phase moon cycle = 2 hours 40 minutes of real play.
Skip the night: sleeping in a bed jumps straight to the next dawn (tick 24000) and sets your spawn point.
The cycle keeps running while you are in the Nether or the End - clocks and daylight detectors keep working through the Overworld's time.

Java vs Bedrock

Ten minutes of daylight per cycle: plan your first day around it - shelter before tick 12000, or a bed before your first night.

Versions: The 20-minute cycle is identical on Java and Bedrock. Current as of 26.x.

Frequently asked questions

How long is a Minecraft day in real time?

The full day-night cycle is 20 real minutes: 10 minutes of daytime, 50 seconds of sunset, 8 minutes 20 seconds of night and 50 seconds of sunrise.

How long is nighttime in Minecraft?

8 minutes 20 seconds (10,000 ticks), plus 50-second sunset and sunrise transitions. Sleeping in a bed skips it entirely.

How many ticks are in a Minecraft day?

24,000 ticks for the full cycle - 12,000 for daytime, 1,000 for sunset, 10,000 for night and 1,000 for sunrise.